Commercially prepared french fried potato strips (or so-called french fries) typically are prepared by slicing whole potatoes into strips, blanching the strips in hot water, parfrying the strips in oil, and then freezing the strips. The frozen potato strips are reconstituted by frying them in oil, draining off the oil, and then salting them. Commercially prepared frozen french fried potato strips typically have a uniform, light golden color, a relatively dry mealy potato interior, and a somewhat subdued potato flavor.
Two known processes used in preparing potato products for the food service industry are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,397,993 to Strong and U.S. Pat. No. 3,635,729 to Englar.
The Strong patent discloses a process in which raw potato strips are blanched in either steam or hot water until the potato strips are turned uniformly translucent in appearance. The blanched strips are then dried in hot air at a temperature within the range of 150 degrees to 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 to 20 minutes, resulting in a weight loss of at least 20 percent. After the air drying step, the potato strips are parfried in oil at a temperature within the range of 300 to 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 to 60 seconds, and then frozen. The end user then reconstitutes the frozen strips by finish frying them in hot oil.
The Englar patent discloses a method of producing dehydrated hash brown potatoes with a final moisture content of about 7.5 percent. In this process, the raw shredded potato is blanched in water within a temperature range of 180 degrees to 212 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 to 10 minutes. The blanching water contains a salt such as sodium acid pyrophosphate or sodium chloride or a combination of the two. In one example, the blanching water contains 1 pound of sodium chloride in 10 gallons of water. The resulting precooked strips are then partially dehydrated in a fluidized bed dehydrator to a moisture content of about 20 to 30 percent, coated with a starch solution, and then further dehydrated in a fluidized bed dehydrator to a final moisture content of about 7.5 percent. The resulting dehydrated and starch coated potato product does not require refrigerated transportation or storage and is unaffected by temperature fluctuations.
Other known processes for preparing potato or other food products are identified below.
Lamb U.S. Pat. No. 3,219,461 discloses a process for partially dehydrating and freezing food products, such as carrots, grapes, pears, and meat. In one example, carrots are blanched in steam, vacuum frozen and then subjected to a calcium chloride brine as the vacuum is released. As the vacuum is released, the calcium chloride brine is infused into the frozen product.
Chase U.S. Pat. No. Re. 23,890 discloses a process for preparing frozen potatoes in which the potato strips are blanched, cooled and dried to produce a 10 to 15 percent moisture loss and then frozen.
Netherland Patent 7703461 discloses a process for preparing potato chips in which potato slices are blanched in water, cooled, blanched again in water, dried in warm air to produce a 10 to 15 percent weight loss, equilibrated at room temperature, fried, and finally frozen.
In another prior commercial potato process, raw potato cubes or strips are immersion blanched in a hot water solution containing two percent sodium chloride for 5 to 10 minutes. The cubes are then washed in a water solution containing sodium acid pyrophosphate (to help preserve color) and sugar for about 30 to 45 seconds. The cubes are then dried long enough to cause a loss in weight of 7 to 15 percent. The cubes are then parfried in oil at a temperature of 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 to 90 seconds, and then frozen. This process results in a finished potato product having a sodium chloride content of about 0.8 to 1.2 percent.
In contrast to commercially prepared french fries, natural home-made french fries typically are prepared by cutting whole potatoes into strips and frying the strips. Homemade french fries typically have a darker, varied golden color, a stronger potato flavor and a relatively moist potato interior. Homemade french fries are quite distinct in character from commercially prepared french fry products.
There is a need in the food service industry for a frozen french fried product which, when reconstituted, more closely resembles a natural homemade french fry. Many restaurants desire to serve food that has the appearance and flavor of freshly prepared product, yet desire the relative ease, convenience, and economy of commercially manufactured products. Further, most commercially prepared french fries are not salted by the manufacturer because it is difficult to incorporate dehydrated salt at any step of traditional french fry processing. This results in the end user having to add salt to the product after the finish frying step, which in turn leads to non-uniform application of salt on the fried product both within a single batch, and more severely, between batches. Flavor differences may therefore be present in the finished product. Accordingly, there is a need for a frozen french fry that contains a uniform concentration of salt when the restaurant or other end user serves the product to the customer.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a process for preparing high quality frozen french fried potato strips which have flavor, texture, and visual attributes similar to homemade french fried potatoes.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a process for preparing frozen french fried potato strips which, upon reconstitution, have a desirably crisp outer surface, a moist interior, and a desirable flavor and texture.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a process for preparing frozen potato strips which, when reconstituted, have a uniformly dispersed salty taste, making it unnecessary for the end user to salt the product.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a process for preparing frozen potato strips which, when reconstituted, having improved product characteristics.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description.